During the chaos of the Boston Marathon bombing, the Associated Press issued a now-retracted piece in which it alleged that law enforcement shut down cell phone service in the Boston Metro area in order to prevent the remote detonation of any remaining bombs. While this was ultimately denied by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, the idea that the government could, theoretically, block the cellular network drove privacy advocates to determine if this was — in fact — a possibility.

“Network jamming,” or the intentional blocking of radio signals for the intent of disrupting cellular, Wi-Fi, GPS and/or emergency response communications, is an imprisonable and finable felony